1828.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



547 



was, hereditarily, a tar of the old school. 

 He was the son of Lieutenant Patrick 

 Strachan, and nephew of Captain Sir John 

 Strachan, both of the royal navy. On the 

 demise of his uncle, the fifth baronet of his 

 name, in 1777, he succeeded to the baron- 

 etage. 



Richard Strachan, the subject of this 

 sketch, was born in Devonshire a county 

 which has given birth to an extraordinary 

 number of naval officers of the first emi- 

 nenceon the 27th of October, 1760. He 

 entered the service at a very early period ; 

 was made lieutenant in the Acteon of 44 

 guns ; served as third lieutenant in the 

 Hero, of 74 guns, one of Commodore John- 

 son's squadron, in the affair off Porto 

 Praya ; and served in the Magnanime, 64, 

 and in the Superb, 74, the flag-ship of Sir 

 Edward Hughes, who promoted him, in 

 1782, to the rank of commander in the 

 Lizard sloop, at Bombay. He afterwards 

 commanded the Naiade frigate, captured 

 from the French. He obtained post-rank 

 on the 26th of April, 1783. 



After the close of the American war, Sir 

 Richard Strachan was appointed captain of 

 the Vestal frigate, appointed to convey the 

 brother of the present Lord Cathcart on an 

 embassy to China. In India, Sir Richard 

 greatly distinguished himself. In 1791, 

 while cruising off the coast of Malabar in 

 the Phoenix frigate, he fell in with the Re- 

 solve, of 46 guns, convoying two country 

 ships to Mangalore, supposed to be laden 

 with stores for Tippoo Saib. The French 

 captain resisted the right of search ; an 

 action ensued ; and, after a considerable 

 number had been killed and wounded on 

 both sides, the Resolve struck, and was 

 searched, but nothing was found on board 

 of her to justify detention. 



In 1792, Sir Richard was appointed to 

 the Concorde of 42 guns, in which he 

 joined the squadron on the French coast, 

 under the orders of Sir J. B. Warren. 

 When off Guernsey, on St. George's Day, 

 1793, he observed four French ships stand- 

 ing out to sea ; one of which, 1'JEngageante, 

 after a desperate resistance, struck. Be- 

 tween thirty and forty men were killed and 

 wounded on board of the prize ; only one 

 killed and twelve wounded on board of the 

 Concorde. Commanding the Melampus, of 

 42 guns, under Commodore Sir W. S. 

 Smith, he destroyed and captured many of 

 the enemy's vessels. When Sir Sidney 

 Smith fell into the hands of the French, 

 Sir Richard Strachan succeeded him in the 

 command of the Diamond frigate, in which 

 he continued to prove a most destructive 

 annoyance to the enemy. In February, 

 1799, he was appointed to the Captain, of 

 74 guns. He assisted in the capture of a 

 French squadron in the Mediterranean ; 

 served in the Quiberon Bay and Ferrol ex- 

 peditions ; and, afterwards, commanded a 

 squadron off the western coast of France. 

 Subsequently to the treaty of Amiens, Sir 



Richard commanded the Donegal, of 80 

 guns. On the renewal of the war, he was 

 stationed off Cadiz, to watch the French 

 ships in that port. In the winter of 1804, 

 he captured the Amphitrite, Spanish frigate, 

 of 44 guns, from Cadiz to Tencriffe and the 

 Havannah, with despatches. His next ship 

 was the Renown. In 1805, he was ap- 

 pointed one of the colonels of the Royal 

 Marines. On the evening of the 2d of No- 

 vember, in that year, when off Ferrol, in 

 the Caesar, of 80 guns, with a detached 

 squadron under his orders, he fell in with 

 four French line-of-battle ships, which had 

 escaped from the battle of Trafalgar. It 

 was not, however, till daylight on the 4th, 

 that he could get within gunshot of the 

 enemy. At half-past three in the afternoon, 

 the whole of them struck. 



On the 9th of November, 1805, Sir 

 Richard Strachan was promoted to the 

 rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squa- 

 dron ; on the 29th of January, 1806, he was 

 madeK.B.; and, about the same time, he 

 received the thanks of both Houses of Par- 

 liament. He then hoisted his flag on board 

 the Caesar, and proceeded to the French 

 coast, in pursuit of a French squadron, 

 under Admiral Villaumez. On the termi- 

 nation of this service, he was employed in 

 the blockade of Rochefort, till the summer 

 of 1809, when he was appointed to com- 

 mand the naval part of the expedition to 

 the island of Walcheren. On the 3d of 

 July, 1810, Sir Richard Strachan was pre- 

 sented with a sword, and the freedom of 

 the city of London, which had been voted 

 him foi the capture of the French fleet in 

 1805 ; on the 31st of the same month, he 

 was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral ; 

 and, on the 19th of July, 1821, he was 

 farther promoted to the rank of admiral. 

 For his many and distinguished services, 

 Government allowed him a pension of 

 i 1,000. a-year. 



In the year 1812, Sir Richard Strachau 

 married a Miss Louisa Dillon; by whom, 

 we believe, he has left some children. 

 After a short, but severe illness, he died at 

 his house in Bryanstone-square, on the 3d 

 of February. 



COUNT DE PUISAYE. 



A full and complete biography of the 

 Count de Puisaye would assume the air 

 of a grand moral and political romance : it 

 would embrace and exhibit a world of in- 

 trigue, a world of valour, a world of de- 

 voted suffering in the cause of royalty and 

 the love of country. Unfortunately, all 

 that we have room to offer is a very faint 

 sketch an index, as it were, to the 

 whole. 



This nobleman, descended from one 

 of the most ancient families in France, 

 was born at Mortagne, in the province of 

 Perche, about the year 1754. Intended 

 for the church, he was educated at the 

 seminary of St. S^ulpice, in Paris. 'At~ 



4 A 2 



